Chapter 45

FORTY-FIVE

Cold seeped through Jenna's boots as she pressed her com. "Dave, what's happening?"

"It's okay. We have the suspect. It's Steven Oberg. The girl is Carolyn Stubbs and she's okay." Kane cleared his throat. "We'll come to you."

Jenna nodded. "Copy. I've called Rio and the paramedics to meet us at the cabin. They'll be there by the time we get back. My snowmobile stalled and won't start."

"Don't worry about it. Get close to Emily and keep one eye on Raven. We don't know him. Keep your weapon within reach."

A shiver ran down Jenna's spine. "Copy." She walked closer to Raven and Emily. "Dave and Shane are heading this way with the prisoner and Carolyn Stubbs. I don't mean to pry but why is a primary-care physician holed up in a cabin at Bear Peak without any form of communication?" She leaned her back against a tree. "We have one doctor in town, and he's getting on in years. Sure, people can go to the ER, but Wolfe often needs to take up the slack and being ME is a full-time job. You could really do some good if you opened a practice in town."

"How much did Carter tell you about me?" Raven's gaze narrowed. "And how did my name come up in the conversation?"

Surprised by the stiffening of his posture, Jenna rested a hand on the butt of her weapon. "Not much, only that you left the service and train dogs for protection and prefer to work off the grid." She shrugged. "Your name came up as a person of interest as you own cabins in the area. What you don't know, as you've been isolated, is that three women were murdered recently. Tied to trees and left to freeze to death, so we were checking out people living in the area, is all."

"Oh, now everything makes sense." He shook his head slowly and a smile creased his face, making him look charming. "Julie knows about the murders, right? That would be why she's been acting like a cat on a hot tin roof around me."

"No, she doesn't know." Emily looked up at him from her perch on the log. "We found the first body when we went to the crash site. You must have walked right past it."

Jenna thought for a beat. "She's just finished reading Jo Wells' series of books about serial killers. Jo Wells is the leading behavioral analyst with the FBI."

"Yeah, I've read her work." Raven raised both eyebrows. "So Julie was afraid I was a serial killer and keeping her against her will? Oh, the poor girl. No wonder she headed out in the snow on her crutches a couple of times. She refused decent pain relief and I know she was hurting bad." He tugged at his beard. "I've been out daily, searching for a way around the avalanches wide enough for my dogsled. I recalled there are cabins close to the fire road on this side of Bear Peak, so today I followed the river hoping that I'd find one occupied and could call for assistance. My cabin is close to the mountain, not far from the crash site, but that first tremor brought down a wall of snow on each side of me." He looked from Jenna to Emily. "I live here because I needed time to escape a traumatic episode in my life. Seeing all my team die in a chopper crash caused PTSD and being like that isn't conducive to being a doctor in a small town. People need to rely on me and I wasn't reliable. Now, it's not so bad, but training dogs keeps me active and brings in a decent income. I have a contact in town and when I have a dog ready I can call her on a CB radio. It's far enough away in a second cabin where it won't cause a problem. My snowmobile is there at the moment, and my truck. It has a nice big shed to keep everything safe over winter. The woman at the animal shelter knows where I live. If a suitable dog comes into the shelter, she drives out here to see me."

Having stood in the presence of many psychopaths, he didn't need to convince Jenna. This guy was the real deal and he'd saved and protected Julie. She nodded slowly. "Did you train K-9s?"

"Yeah, it was part of my rehabilitation." Raven rubbed his hands together and stamped his feet to keep warm. "I have Ben. A fully trained K-9 but he's not for sale. He's my buddy. He's waiting just over yonder with the dogsled team. When I heard the snowmobile, I walked ahead on foot rather than risk driving the dogs out in front of a vehicle traveling at high speed."

A doctor, with a K-9 and military training—how interesting. Jenna's mind was working overtime. Johnny Raven could be just the man she needed to join her team. As a consultant, she could call him when they needed help. She'd discuss the idea with Kane and Wolfe and then get a full background check before she made any decision. She smiled at Raven. "Oh, I can't wait to meet him. You'd know about Carter's dog, Zorro?"

"Yeah, I do." Raven smiled ruefully. "They brought Zorro to me for treatment as we had no vet in the field when Carter was MIA. The dog refused to eat. He'd drink water, that's all, and howled most times. If anyone tried to touch him, he'd bite them, so the guys in the kennels kept him muzzled. When I discovered Carter had been wounded, I flew Zorro to see him. Right there at Carter's bedside, I filled a bowl with kibble, and the moment Carter gave the command, Zorro ate. I've never seen anything like it. That dog refused to leave his side. Carter figures Zorro was knocked unconscious in the explosion, came around, and walked for days until he made it back to base, but Carter had been flown to a medical unit."

"Are you a chopper pilot as well?" Emily looked at him wide-eyed.

"Yeah, but it's been a while." Raven stared into the distance. "I hear a snowmobile."

Jenna smiled as Kane loomed out of the heavy curtain of snow with the prisoner tied to the snowmobile facing backward. Behind him, Wolfe had Carolyn hanging around his waist. She eyed Oberg with distaste. "Do you want me to call an attorney to meet us at the sheriff's office?"

"What's the point?" Oberg indicated with his chin toward Carolyn. "I should have killed her the day I picked her up from the airport. Tell the DA I want to make a deal."

Surprised, Jenna raised an eyebrow. "Sure." She turned to Kane. "Great job. My snowmobile decided to quit on me right when I needed it. I'm not sure how we're going to collect Julie and get back to the Beast. There's too many of us."

"Did it stall?" Kane lifted one leg over the handlebars to dismount and walked away from Oberg to speak to her.

Jenna nodded. "Yeah, I turned the throttle to full and it just died." She frowned. "You said not to do that and I forgot. Then it wouldn't start, so I ran here."

"It was probably flooded with gas." Kane shrugged. "It will start now it's been sitting for a time. Just remember next time not to panic. Wait, don't touch the throttle, and then start it."

"Where is Julie?" Wolfe was off the snowmobile and eyeing Raven with distrust.

"She's safe in my cabin." Raven looked from him to Kane. "My dogsled is back there and my dogs have been waiting in the cold for too long. Now I know there's a way through here, I can drive back and get her."

"Not without me you're not. I'll follow you on Jenna's ride." Wolfe headed off in the snow.

"That's not gonna work." Kane looked after him and sighed. "What about Emily? Wolfe can't go off alone."

Jenna shrugged. "Then I'll go with him." She looked at Kane's annoyed expression. "I have a satellite phone to send you the cabin's coordinates when we arrive. I'm armed and I'm wearing my vest. Nothing is going to happen to me. I'll be safe with Wolfe. You go and meet Rio and the paramedics. Carolyn will need to go to the hospital. Emily will go with her so they'll know she's a crime victim."

"I'd like to see Julie, but sure, I'll take her." Emily climbed onto Wolfe's snowmobile. "Lead the way, Dave."

Jenna turned to Kane. "Rio can get Oberg into a cell. Rowley was heading into the office and will be there by now as backup. You can follow us to the cabin when Rio leaves and we can all ride back together, if Julie can travel."

"That sounds like a plan." Kane indicated toward Oberg. "I broke his wrist. He'll need medical attention."

Blowing out a breath, Jenna peered at his eyes shielded behind mirrored sunglasses and only saw her own face and red-tipped nose. "Get the paramedics to look at him. We'll follow up when we get back to the office."

"Okay. I'll be interested to hear Julie's side of the story and I want to know more about Raven." Kane climbed back onto the vehicle and pulled down his visor. "Catch you later." He sped off toward the cabin with Emily close behind.

A snowmobile roared and moments later Wolfe came through the snow. Jenna waved him down. "I'm coming with you. Dave will follow later."